My mom said I taught myself in the kiddie pool. I was asked to leave the kiddie pool because I was swimming in it, and apparently you weren't supposed to do that.
She took me to the big pool on the other side of the rec center and dumped me in the 3' water.
I wasn't walking yet, but I could dogpaddle with the best of 'em!
I learned to swim in the Washita River while attending Riverside Indian School, Anadarko, Okla. I would hike down to the river with my cousins after school was let out. Wading was what we did at first and cannot recall exactly the first time that I actually swam. In the spring the river would rise to some very dangerous depths and was swift. My grandma's brother-in-law had drowned in the Washita during the 1930s while harvesting wood from the trees that would wash down river during the springs floods.
In the Washita I learned to noodle for catfish, run a trotline, and seine for minnows. During high school, much beer was consumed upon the banks of the Washita. And I remember a lovely young girl, in the moonlight, on the sand of the banks of the Washita. (If I remember correctly, she is now my wife of 43 years.)
I do not know if my parents knew where I learned to swim. Little attention was paid to us and our upbringing.
I chose 'other' because I honestly don't remember ... I suspect my father taught me in a pool and that isn't an option. I DO remember that to be able to visit the community pool without a parent when I was in early elem school, you had to be able to pass the deep water test which was to swim across the pool and back without stopping. I hadn't perfected breathing yet but was determined to pass so I jumped in and swam across the pool without breathing, took a breath as I turned around and did the same on the way back.
Later, I did take advanced swimming lessons and helped with swimming lessons at the local high school during summers ultimately taking and passing the Lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor classes.
neptunechimney wrote: Never did. As I recall, that is the reason I chose the Navy. I figured that part of becoming a sailor would be learning how to swim. Little did I know.
Early on in boot camp they gave us a swim test. Before it began, we were told that if anyone had the smallest scintilla of doubt if we could pass it raise your hand. Naturally I did. Little did I know.
They yanked me out of my company and put me into a holding co. which was full of rejects who were being processed for discharge. Kind of like the group W bench rejects. The minimum to get out of there was to float for 5 minutes. I made up my mind that first chance they gave me, I would ether float long enough to get out of that co. or drown. So I did.
